It’s the end of #ADHDAwarenessMonth and in true ADHD fashion, I’ve put off writing this the whole month. 🧵
The diagnostic criteria for ADHD is centred around hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention (though it’s more an inability to regulate our attention).
There is SO MUCH MORE to ADHD than those three words, like...
• Emotional dysregulation
• Poor working memory
• Difficulty with organisation
• Risk taking behaviours
• Our brains just never shutting off!
ADHD has had a lot of attention in the media for being ‘trendy’ & ‘overdiagnosed’. It’s neither. It was only introduced into the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) in 1968 as ‘Hyperkinetic Reaction of Childhood’. Let’s be clear - it’s not a mental disorder, but this is the manual by which conditions are diagnosed. NICE only recognised childhood ADHD in 2000 and ADHD in adults in 2008, which enabled diagnosis in the UK. It is estimated that 5% of the population have ADHD, but 5% aren’t diagnosed (@ADHDUKcharity).
Obviously ADHD makes life hard, but there are also a range of strengths and positive traits that come with ADHD. I love that I am so enthusiastic about things I am interested in and my ability to hyperfocus on these is a definite strength. My chattiness from ADHD helps to compensate for my autistic brain struggling in social situations, and I am naturally curious which encourages me to learn new things.
The misdiagnosis of autistic distress in the mental health system. A thread. 🧵
When I am asked why I wrote Girl Unmasked, I say that I was angry. Which is true...
I was angry at finding myself sectioned on a psychiatric unit at the age of 16, at the doctor there telling me I just had high social anxiety not autism, at the fact they described my autistic meltdowns as ‘hysteric attacks when she doesn’t get her own way’.
My anger only grew when I discovered how many other autistic people were struggling like I was with being autistic in a world which doesn’t accept us very much, ending up stuck in a mental health system where our autism wasn’t being recognised or understood.
Research suggests that 80% of autistic people experience mental health problems throughout their life, and around 40% of suicides are estimated to be autistic people.
What are some of the reasons why this is the case? 💭🧵